Since April 2015 we have been able to claim additional Government Funding for some of our three and four year olds in the Nursery to support their development, learning and care. This funding is called Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP).

Currently the Early Years Pupil Premium provides us with an additional  60 pence per hour for the three and four year olds whose parents are in receipt of certain benefits, or who may have been in care or adopted from care. This means an extra £342 per year for each child taking up the full 15 hours per week universal entitlement.

At Gamesley Early Excellence Centre we monitor the progress of all our children regularly. However, children who are in receipt of Early Years Pupil Premium are monitored twice as often through our VIP system. This means these children have more time being observed and interacted with through our play based provision, ensuring more serve and return conversations and providing appropriate challenge to extend learning and deepen understanding.

After being a VIP staff meet as a team to discuss children’s needs, next steps in learning and any enhancements/changes/amendments that need to be made to the child’s learning environment. The Key Person for that child then also meets with the parent to discuss their child’s progress and next steps. It is our aim that this will make an impact by creating a safety net to close any gaps that may occur due to socio-economic factors. Our ethos is to provide every child with equality of access to a good start in their education.

Data for the children who moved into Primary School in July 2022 showed that typically the children who were in receipt of EYPP made the same or better progress than the cohorts overall progress and in some areas children in receipt of EYPP attained at a higher level than their peers.

In the year 2021-22, the amount of money the Nursery received for EYPP funding was £6,820. This money was spent on:

• Release time to allow staff to speak with parents to discuss their child’s VIP review.
• Bookbags and home learning resources to encourage at home learning
• Monitoring and chasing up of attendance
• Transition into Nursery sessions

In the year 2022-23 we are anticipating that around 50% of our 3 and 4 year old children will be in receipt of EYPP. Our data from the last year shows that although our children are making the most progress in Communication and Language, it still remains the area which our children are not attaining as highly in. Therefore in 2022-23 we are continuing to build on the work of the EYPDP through the Confident Communicators programme and we have employed a Family Support Worker to work directly with families and the local community.